Friday, October 16, 2009

We All Can Die From Broken Hearted

It hit me long time ago, as I saw in some families, when one member of the family (be it the parent or the child) died due to some reasons, the other member of family will also die in the following weeks. It occurred to me back then, whether there might be some logical explanation that can justify why the other member of the family can die too? Is it dying because of broken hearted? Because of unbearable grieve and sorrow?

It turned out that this actually has a logical explanation behind it. I saw the news several days ago about dying because of broken hearted.

The fact is, you can die when someone you love dies, especially if the person is your partner or your child. This is due to increased risks of heart attack, according to Dr Thomas Buckley, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Based on their research, the bereaved people experienced:

psychological symptoms such as anger, depression, anxiety.

physical symptoms such as reduced sleep, reduced appetite, increase in blood pressure and stress hormones, changes in immune system and blood clotting

The biological risk of heart attack is most intense in the first few weeks after the death of the loved one. But it decreases considerably 3 months after the death, and still continue to reduce down to 6 months (at this point, the researchers stopped measuring).

What's worth noting is that it's not just older people who are at increased risks of a heart attack. Younger people are also at significant high risks of a heart attack.

It is recommended for people to be prepared for death as this seems to be very important. And also having the right social support also helps greatly.